2025-06-04 00:45

USTR, EU trade negotiators report constructive talks Canada preparing possible reprisals Doubled tariffs kick in on steel and aluminium imports Congressional Budget Office says tariffs will slow U.S. economic output China rare earths clampdown disrupts European automakers OTTAWA/WASHINGTON, June 4 (Reuters) - Canada prepared possible reprisals while the European Union reported progress in trade talks on Wednesday as new U.S. metals tariffs triggered more disruption in the global economy and added urgency to negotiations with Washington. President Donald Trump's doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports kicked in on Wednesday, the same day his administration sought "best offers" from trading partners to avoid other punishing import levies from taking effect in July. Sign up here. The move will hit the closest U.S. trading partners - Canada and Mexico - especially hard. Canada is the top exporter of both steel and aluminum to the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is prepared to strike back against the United States if talks with Washington to remove Trump's tariffs did not succeed. "We are in intensive negotiations with the Americans, and, in parallel, preparing reprisals if those negotiations do not succeed," Carney told the House of Commons. Canada's labour union Unifor called for retaliatory tariffs, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Carney not to "sit back and let President Trump steamroll us." Trump has made charging U.S. importers tariffs on goods from foreign countries the central policy of his trade wars, which have severely disrupted global trade flows and roiled financial markets. The Republican president has long been angered by the massive federal trade deficit, saying it was emblematic of how trading partners "take advantage" of the U.S. He sees tariffs as a tool to bring more manufacturing - and the jobs that go with that - back to the United States. However, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that U.S. economic output will fall as a result of Trump's new tariffs on foreign goods that were in place as of May 13. The U.S. tariff hike on the two metals to 50% from the 25% rate introduced in March took effect at 12:01 a.m. (0401 GMT) Wednesday. It applies to all trading partners except Britain, the only country so far to strike a preliminary trade agreement with the U.S. during a 90-day pause on a wider array of Trump tariffs that ends on July 8. The 27-nation EU's trade negotiator, Maros Sefcovic, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said their meeting in Paris was constructive. "We both concluded that we are advancing in the right direction, at pace," Sefcovic told reporters. Technical talks were ongoing in Washington, he said, and high-level contacts will follow. "What makes me optimistic is I see the progress ... the discussions are now very concrete," Sefcovic said. Greer said the talks were advancing quickly and demonstrated "a willingness by the EU to work with us to find a concrete way forward to achieve reciprocal trade." Sefcovic said he deeply regretted the doubling of the steel tariffs, stressing that the EU has the same challenge - overcapacity - as the United States on steel, and that they should work together on that. About a quarter of all steel used in the U.S. is imported. GLOBAL DISRUPTION, LOCAL PAIN In another sign of disruptions to global trade, concerns about the damage from China's restrictions on critical mineral exports deepened, with some European auto parts plants suspending output and German carmaker BMW (BMWG.DE) , opens new tab warning that its supplier network was affected by shortages of rare earths. Separately, Trump said early on Wednesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping is tough and "extremely hard to make a deal with," exposing frictions after the White House raised expectations for a long-awaited phone call between the two leaders this week over trade issues including critical minerals. The expected hike in the levies jolted the market for both steel and aluminum this week, especially the latter. Global forex, bond and stock markets took the latest tariffs in their stride, with many investors betting that the current levies may not last and that the president will back off from such extreme actions. Uncertainty around Trump's trade policy has created havoc around the world. The new tariffs will affect "everything from autos to aircraft to aluminum beer containers to cans for processed goods to machinery and equipment," said Georgetown University professor Marc Busch, a trade policy expert. The American Automotive Policy Council said the tariffs will increase the cost of assembling a car in the United States and put the U.S. industry and workers at a disadvantage in the global marketplace. Bernard Yaros, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, estimated the new metals tariffs will cut business spending on equipment and structures by as much as 0.4% to 0.5%, "more than twice as large as the expected hit to consumer spending." The Aluminum Association urged the Trump administration to reserve high tariffs for bad actors including China and include carve outs for partners like Canada. 'BEST OFFER' DUE DATE Wednesday is also when the White House expects trading partners to propose deals that might help them avoid Trump's hefty "reciprocal" tariffs on imports across the board from taking effect in five weeks. U.S. officials have been in talks with several countries since Trump announced a pause on those tariffs on April 9, but so far only the UK deal has materialized and even that pact is essentially a preliminary framework for more talks. Reuters reported on Monday that Washington was asking countries to list their best proposals in such key areas as suggested tariffs and quotas for U.S. products and plans to remedy any non-tariff barriers. In turn, the letter promises answers "within days" with an indication of what tariff rates countries can expect after the 90-day pause ends. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/higher-metals-tariffs-kick-deadline-best-offers-arrives-2025-06-04/

2025-06-03 23:57

June 3 (Reuters) - Video game maker Roblox (RBLX.N) , opens new tab was down for tens of thousands of users in the United States on Tuesday, according to outage tracking website Downdetector.com. There were 3,737 incidents of people reporting issues with Roblox as of 7:56 p.m. ET, Downdetector showed. Sign up here. User reports indicating issues at Roblox peaked at over 107,000, according to Downdetector, which tracks outages by collating status reports from various sources. The actual number of affected users may vary. Roblox is one of the world's most popular online gaming sites. Its platform allows users to build "experiences" such as games, events and virtual worlds that they visit with character avatars. Roblox did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. https://www.reuters.com/technology/roblox-down-tens-thousands-users-us-downdetector-shows-2025-06-03/

2025-06-03 23:45

June 3 (Reuters) - Fishing companies and offshore wind opponents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday challenging the Trump administration's decision to reverse course and allow construction to resume on Empire Wind, a $5 billion wind farm project off New York's coast. Protect Our Coast New Jersey, Clean Ocean Action, ACK for Whales and 12 fishing industry participants in a lawsuit , opens new tab filed in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, sought to reinstate a stop work order Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued in April halting construction of Equinor's (EQNR.OL) , opens new tab wind project. Sign up here. Burgum issued that order after Republican President Donald Trump on his first day back in office on January 20 directed his administration to halt offshore wind lease sales and stop the issuance of permits, leases and loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects. He did so while also moving to ramp up the federal government's support for the fossil fuel industry and maximize output in the United States. Trump as a candidate last year promised to end the offshore wind industry. But weeks after Burgum signed the stop-work order, the administration in a turnabout on May 19 allowed work to resume on Empire Wind, which is being developed by Norway's Equinor and is expected to provide power for half a million homes from 2027 onward. The administration did so in a compromise with New York that could also see canceled plans for a gas pipeline revived. Burgum said he was encouraged that New York Governor Kathy Hochul will now allow new gas pipeline capacity to move forward. Tuesday's lawsuit argued that the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management did not adhere to the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide a basis for restoring the work permits. Bruce Afran, the plaintiffs' lawyer, said the administration had properly recognized the lack of investigation about serious environmental harm from Equinor's project. "The administration correctly pulled the Empire Wind work permit because of these concerns and had no basis to reinstate the work orders a month later," he said in a statement. "This lawsuit seeks to restore the stop work order." Equinor declined to comment on the lawsuit itself but in a statement said the project "has undergone years of rigorous permitting and studies, and secured all necessary federal, state and local approvals to begin construction in 2024." The agency did not respond to a request for comment. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/wind-opponents-sue-trump-administration-block-new-york-wind-project-2025-06-03/

2025-06-03 23:37

SAO PAULO, June 3 - Brazilian prosecutors are seeking to annul a $180 million carbon offset scheme to support the conservation of the Amazon rainforest that the state of Para signed last year with a coalition of major corporations and wealthy governments, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday. The lawsuit is a powerful blow to the government of Para, the host of the next global climate summit, known as COP30, as well as the carbon credit industry as a whole, which had been trying to reposition itself after years of facing accusations of abuse and fraud. Sign up here. The state of Para holds one of the most vulnerable sections of the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest. In the filing, the prosecutors argued that the state government had failed to inform and consult the communities that would be impacted by the deal. They also said Brazilian law doesn’t allow for the pre-sale of carbon credits, which in this case represent the carbon locked away in trees that the project says it will keep from being knocked down. The state, the prosecutors wrote, aimed to approve its carbon credit plan “before COP 30, which has generated considerable pressure on Indigenous peoples and traditional communities in Para.” Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) , opens new tab and at least five other companies had agreed to purchase the credits through the LEAF Coalition forest conservation initiative, which the e-commerce giant helped to found in 2021 with a group of other firms and governments, including the United States and United Kingdom. The Para government and Emergent, a non-profit that coordinates the LEAF Coalition, didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment. The project was one of the world's first carbon credit schemes to be called jurisdictional, because they cover whole states or countries. The new design was meant to address concerns about private projects partly by making the accounting of credits easier. It aimed to sell up to 12 million credits at $15 each related to the carbon locked away in trees that it would protect from deforestation. https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/brazilian-prosecutors-seek-block-180-million-carbon-credit-deal-2025-06-03/

2025-06-03 23:24

WASHINGTON, June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. federal prosecutors have accused two Chinese nationals of smuggling a dangerous biological pathogen that had the potential to be used as an agricultural terrorism weapon into the United States for research. The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday identified the pathogen as Fusarium graminearum, a fungus it said was classified in scientific literature as a potential agroterrorism weapon. In a statement it said that the fungus causes "head blight" in some crops and is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses globally each year. Sign up here. According to an FBI criminal complaint, Zunyong Liu, 34, a researcher currently in China, brought the fungus into the United States while visiting his girlfriend, Yunqing Jian, 33, in July 2024. He admitted to smuggling in the fungus so he could conduct research on it at a University of Michigan laboratory where his girlfriend worked, according to the complaint. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the complaint, an examination of electronic communications between the two indicated that they discussed shipping biological materials and research being done in the laboratory prior to Liu's arrival. Jian and Liu were accused in the complaint of conspiracy, smuggling goods into the United States, false statements and visa fraud. Cheyvoryea Gibson, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said the pair's actions "posed an imminent threat to public safety." Jian was expected to appear in court in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday. A judge appointed a public defender, who could not be immediately reached for comment, to represent Jian. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/justice-department-accuses-two-chinese-researchers-smuggling-potential-2025-06-03/

2025-06-03 23:06

Transport plans approved for north, central, southwest England Decision comes ahead of multi-year spending review on June 11 Reeves says she has rejected other spending due to budget limits MANCHESTER, England, June 4 (Reuters) - British finance minister Rachel Reeves committed 15.6 billion pounds ($21.1 billion) on Wednesday towards transport projects in cities outside London that have long suffered from underinvestment. In a speech in Rochdale, northwest England, Reeves announced the first investment commitments from her June 11 Spending Review, which will set budgets for government departments until 2029. Sign up here. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour government, which suffered heavy defeats in local elections this year, is under pressure to show it is delivering improvements to public services and infrastructure. British cities outside the capital suffer a bigger shortfall in productivity compared with their counterparts in other countries, with outdated and limited transport links identified by organisations like the OECD as a key factor. "A Britain that is better off cannot rely on a handful of places forging ahead of the rest of the country," Reeves said. She added that a previous focus on prioritising public infrastructure investment in areas that would deliver the most reliable financial returns had led to growth being supported in too few places and had created large gaps between regions. Most of the 15.6 billion pounds of investment was earmarked by the previous Conservative government, which cancelled part of a high-speed north-south rail line and promised to reallocate the cash to local projects. However, many city regions have been left waiting for a go-ahead from central government. TOUGH CHOICES Wednesday's announcement represents a budget commitment to fund transport projects between 2027/28 and 2031/32. They include investments in local public transport in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, northeast England and South Yorkshire, as well as a first mass transit system for West Yorkshire - an urban region of 2.3 million people. Britain has held periodic government spending reviews since 1998, but this is the first since 2015 to cover multiple years, other than one in 2021 focused on the COVID pandemic. The non-partisan Institute for Fiscal Studies said this review could be "one of the most significant domestic policy events" for the Labour government, with tough choices between healthcare, defence and other areas of spending. Amid reports of tensions within the government, Reeves said she had turned down promising proposals from her ministerial colleagues due to budget constraints. "There are good things I have had to say 'no' to. The reason for that is because it is important to have control of the public finances," Reeves said. Police spending would increase, she added, without giving details. ($1 = 0.7398 pounds) https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uks-reeves-okays-21-billion-transport-projects-outside-london-2025-06-03/